Carton



Nov. 16, 1943. RE. Lowl-:Y

CARTON Filed Feb. 25, 1940 Patented Nov. 16, 1941iY `UNITED, STATES PATENT DFFICE CARTON Roy E. Lowey, Evanston, Ill., assignor to Container Corporation of America, Chicago, Ill., a

corporation oiDelaware Application February 29, 1940, Serial No. 320,363

i! Claims. (Cl. 229-34) The present invention relates to folding cartons and more particularly to cartons of tray form constructed so as to be rapidly set up and locked` in set up condition. i .I

One object of the present invention is to pro'- vide a carton of tray form having reiniorced side walls in which the reinforcing parts cause an inward `bias oi the side walls whereby locking parts.

on the side walls will be effectively maintained in operative position so as to cooperate with locking parts on the end walls.

Other objects of the present invention are to provide a strong, sturdy form of carton which vcan be collapsed to a flattened condition for storage and shipment, which can be set up with little effort and which will have good Stacking qualities and offer satisfactory resistance to rough handling.

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain combinations and arrangement of parts described below, the novel features oi which are deiined in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the carton of the present invention illustrating one end in secured lpanel 6side wall panels 1, 1, end walls 9. 8, side walls.

The side wall flaps 9, 9 are formed of a width slightly less than the height of the side walls and' the'edges of the iiaps 9, 9 are provided with attaching naps i2, i2 arranged to be secured fiat against the surface of bottom panel 6 was by means 'of adhesive indicated at liin Fig. 4. `The atposition and the other end in outwardly folded I position;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 2--201 Fig. l illustrated in slightly exaggerated way the manner of associating 4the side wall and side wall iiap:

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 3 3 of Fig. 4 illustrating the positions oi the side wall and side wall flap in collapsed position over the bottom panel of the carton; and

Fig. 4 is a view illustrating the blank from which the carton is formed and also illustrating, in fragmentary form, the association between the side wall and attached parts and the remainder of the blank.

The present invention provides a carton having reinforced side walls formed in such a way as to allow advantage to be taken' oi the reinforcement to provide an eilective locking ar- 'rangement for holding the carton in its set-up condition. This is accomplished by the provision of flaps on the side walls which are of slightly less height than the side walls, together with means for securing the iiaps to the bottom panel to cause a denite tendency of the side wall to swing inwardly. Due to the slight separation of the side wall and attaching flap adjacent the bottom panel, a stout arrangement is formed giving maximum stacking strength to the set-up cartons.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the carton, designated as a whole at 5, is preferably formed from a single blank of folding paper board suitably cut and scored to provide a bottom tachingiiaps I2, i2 are made shorter than'the side wall ilaps to provide a free end section at the lower corners of the side wall flaps for a purpose presently to be brought out.

The end wall flaps l0 are provided with short naps ld at their free edges arranged to contact ilat againstthe bottom panel 6.

The side wall aps, as herein illustrated, may also be provided with tabs l5, I5 to provide for increased strength at the corners of the carton. I n the manufacture of the carton the blanks are formed and suitable areas I3 are coated with adhesive, as illustrated in Fig. 4.' The side wall flaps are then folded inwardly upon the iiat blank so that the flaps 9, 9 will come into contact with the adhesive areas. Before the adhesive has time to set the side walls and attached flaps are folded inwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, so that they will overlie the bottom panel. The parts are held in this position until the adhesive has set. Since the flap 9 is of less width than the side wall l, it is apparent that there will be a certain amount oi' resistance produced when the wall is swung to upright position. This is due to the face that the radius for flaps 9 is shorter than for the side wall l, but since the upper edge of the side walls is formed by the fold between the wall l and ap 9 each part will tend to cause the edge to swing upon its own radius. The described movement is permitted by the resiliency of the paper board and by the tendency of the fold lines to yield in both compressive and extensive manners as well as by a certain amount oi loosening of the inner edge portions of the adhesively attached naps 9.

The end wall rlaps i0, l@ are preferably made 1 substantially the full width of the interior of the carton between side walls l, 'i and these flaps are therefore wider than the distance between the flaps 9, 9 when the side walls are in upright posi-l iinal position substantially against the end wall I. When the parts. are in this position it is to be understood that the corner elements and the adjacent tabs I5'will be received in between the end walland the end wall flap.

When the flap l0 clears 'the extremity of the flaps the outer corner portion of the flap will snap back into its original position after being deflected by the edges of the flap I0. T-he ends of ilap 9 will thusserve as locking means by reason of their engagement with the end portions of ilap I0.

The width of the end flap I4 is so determined that when the flap I0 is in its final-locked position the edge of flap I4 will engage the secured down edges of the flaps I2, l2, while the end of flap I4 will extend beneath the extremity of the iiap 9 to provide further engagement with the side wall flap and the attaching flap and will be securely held in such position against accidental 'abscess of the end wall, the end wall flaps each having portions adapted to lock against the ends of the side wall ilapswhen said end wall naps are swung to an inner, downturned position, the attaching aps on the side wall flaps terminating short of the ends of the sidewall ilapswhereby a resilient free corner portion', is provided over which the locking portions on the end wall flaps can move causing outward deflection of said free comer disengagement therefrom by said extremity of y ap 9. This arrangement serves to provide a supplemental locking means and at the same time gives a finished appearance to the bottom part of the carton.

It is to be understood that a suitable cover may be provided for the present carton. The cover could be formed substantially as the tray illustrated or it could be of any conventional form.

It is also to be understood that reference to side and end walls is primarily for convenience of designation, it being within the scope of the invention to reverse the length relationship between these walls.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the present invention providesa neat appearing, reinforced carton in which the reinforcement feature materially contributes to provide an effective form of locking means. In the event it is desired to dispense with the locking relationship between the end flaps I0 and the ends of the side wall flaps 8, thismay be done without completely impairing the eiliciency of the carton as the aps I4 will engage the ends of flaps I2. At the same time', however, the side walls will have all of their strength characteristics even though their function as a locking means is eliminated.

While the present description sets forth a prey ferred embodiment of the invention, numerous "changes may be made in the construction without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is therefore desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being had to portions until the locking portions have cleared the edgesof the corner portions whereupon such corner portions will snap into locking engagement in front ofthe downturned end wall naps.A

2. A carton having a bottom panel, side walls and end walls hinged thereto, side wall naps having a width slightly less than the inside height of the side walls. attaching naps hingedly carried on the free edges of the side wall aps, said attaching flaps being each secured to the bottom panel with the hinge line between the attaching flap and sidewall flap spaced somewhat inwardly from the hinge line between the side wall and bottom panel, whereby outward swinging movement of each side wall beyond the vertical with respect to the bottom panel will be resisted, thev side wall flaps having their ends terminating somewhat short of the ends of the side walls, iiaps on the end walls, corner aps on the ends of the side walls adapted to be received between the end walls and end wall flaps when the latter are downturned against the inside surface of the end wall, the end wall aps each having portions adapted to lock against the ends of the side wall flaps when said end wall flaps are swung to an inner, downturned position, the attaching flaps on the side wall flaps terminating short of the ends of the side wall flaps whereby a resilient free corner portion is provided over which the locking portions on the end walllilaps can move causing outward deection of said free corner portions until the locking portions have cleared the edges of the corner portions whereupon such corner portions will snap into locking engagement in front of the downturned end wall'iiaps,

and edge ilaps on the end wall naps adapted to engage the ends of the attaching flaps on the side wall flaps, said edge naps being also adapted to extend beneath the free corner portions whereby the free corner portions will tend to prevent accidental disengagement df Ythe edge ilaps.

3. A carton having a bottom panel, side walls4 and end walls hinged thereto, side wall fl ing a width slightly less than the insidgplsiglit of the side walls, attaching ilaps hingedly carried on the free edges of the side wall flaps, said attaching ilaps being each secured to the bottom panel with the hinge line between the attaching flap and side wall flap spaced somewhat inwardly .from the hinge line between the sid wall and bottom panel, aps on the end walls, corner flaps from the hinge line between the side wall and bottom panel, whereby outward swinging movement of each side wall beyond the vertical with respect to the bottom panel will be resisted, the side wall flaps having their ends terminating somewhat short of the ends of the side walls, flaps on the end walls, and corner flaps on the ends of the side walls vadapted to be received beon the ends of the side walls adapted to be received between the end walls and end wall flaps when the latter are downturned against the inside surface of the end wall, and edge iiaps on the end wall flaps extending to the side walls, the attachingaps on the side wall flaps terminating short of the ends of the side wall flaps whereby free comer portions are provided, the edge flaps being adapted to engage the ends of the attaching flaps, said edge naps also being adapted to extend outwardly beneath the free corner portions whereby the edge iiaps will be secured against accidental disengagement.

ROY E. LOWEY. 

